These data are expected to become operational in late March 2000. They will be issued 4 times a day and contain 6 hours of data centered on the synoptic hours. The issuance times will be approximately 0400, 1000, 1600, and 2200 UTC. Data from all the currently operational DSMP satellites will be included. Currently, there are 3 operational satellites (f11, f13, and f14) in polar orbit. The orbit times are approximately 102 minutes with two orbits per day over any given area (one ascending and one descending) per satellite. A passive microwave sensor (SSM/I) is used with 7 channels of brightness temperature data available. Each satellite covers a swath of 1400 km with a spacing and footprint resolution of 25 km.